PasanKia

I bought this Polar F6 heart rate monitor from Amazon, just arrive on time! You know what, for the first 3 days of CNY, I gain 3kg of weight! OMG. I'm so envy people like tekko, no matter how much he eat, he is still under weight, what an unfair world.

Heart Rate Monitor, the name tell what it is. Quote the following description from Polar website.

Why use a heart rate monitor?
By monitoring heart rate, the simple observation that the harder we exercise, the faster our heart beats is put to good use. Professional athletes and amateurs alike have for decades been relying on the information provided by their heart rate monitor for the following reasons:

1. A heart rate monitor is like a rev counter, giving a precise measurement of exercise intensity.
2. Training at your own ideal pace is made possible with a heart rate monitor.
3. Direct measurement of heart rate during exercise is the most accurate way to gauge performance.
4. Progress can be monitored and measured, increasing motivation.
5. It maximizes the benefits of exercise in a limited amount of time.
6. It introduces objective observation. Are you on the right track? Are you improving?
7. It is a tool for regulating frequency and intensity of workouts.
8. Because of the immediate feedback it provides, heart rate monitoring is an ideal training partner.

How does it work?

When you start training, your heart rate increases rapidly in proportion to the intensity of the training. In Polar Heart Rate Monitors, the transmitter belt detects the electrocardiogram (ECG - the electric signal originating from your heart) and sends an electromagnetic signal to the Polar wrist receiver where heart rate information appears.

The heart moves blood from the lungs (where the blood picks up oxygen) to the muscles (which burn the oxygen as fuel) and back to the lungs again. The harder the training, the more fuel the muscles need and the harder the heart has to work to pump oxygen-rich blood to the muscles.

As you get fitter, your heart is able to pump more blood with every beat. As a result, your heart doesn’t have to beat as often to get the needed oxygen to your muscles, decreasing resting heart rate and exercise heart rate on all exertion levels.

I like this Polar F6 heart rate monitor, it keep track my workout progress and calculate how much calories burned based on my age, height, weight and the heart rate, and keep the past 12 daily and 12 weekly exercise records in the watch. To keep a longer period, Polar provide a free online workout log, just need install a client application on my computer. Polar use SonicLink to transfer data between the watch unit and PC, how it does is aim the F6 to the PC microphone, and send using sound. That's simple, it send my workout information to PC and from PC to the web, information includes workout date, time duration, mim/max heart rate, calories burned, fat % burned and etc.

I did 2 exercises last Saturday and a exercise today. 1508 kcal burned in total, not too bad. Last Saturday was my first usage, I recorded 2 extra exercises by mistake.


It's Chinese New Year, and my resolution is to reduce to body fat to 17% (current is 22%) by end of June and 14% by end October 2007! Hmm.... should able to train my six-pack by then :D

Polar F6 also come different color and different size for female, it's also available from Fitness Concept for RM475

You think I'm going to talk about mobile phone in "New Gadget Part 2"? Wrong! I want to show another new toy of mine, a virtual laser keyboard (VKB)!

My boss in London bought me this toy, as a gift for visiting London office. VKB uses both infrared and laser technology, the laser beam project a full size virtual QWERT keyboard and infrared sensor key pressed. Cool right!?


The keyboard size slightly shorter than a mentos fresh mint box, easy to carry.

VKB uses bluetooth to connect to devices, it work with PC, Macintosh, PDA and Smartphones. To me, this is a very cool gadget, but impractical. It does has key press sound when a key is press, but still, why do I need to use this Virtual Keyboard? I can't type as fast (and precise) as a normal keyboard.


Technorati Tags: Virtual Keyboard

I was looking for a phone for months. The criteria for the phone I want:

• 3G (UMTS) (will not compromise)
  
• Less than 100g in weight (will not compromise)
• Expandable memory card slot (will not compromise)
• Camera (will not compromise)
• MIDP 2.0 (will not compromise)
• MP3 Player (will not compromise)
• FM radio (nice to have)
• Affordable price
  

I found this Sony Ericsson K610i is closer to what I need, except it doesn't have the FM radio, I've settle for this K610i at RM1200, with 256MB Memory Stick Micro (M2). This phone has a blogger tools inside.

After I bought this, then only realize there are no Maxis 3G coverage in Klang yet. What a waste, should have wait for some more time for buying a new phone.

I just bought a camera, have been craving for one for long time. I get myself a silver color Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX9.
Summary on what is FX9:

• 6.4 megapixel CCD
• 35-105mm equiv. (3x) Leica DC Vario-Elmarit optical zoom
• 4x digital zoom
• Advanced Mega Optical Image Stabilizer
• VGA (640 x 480 pixel) 30fps movie mode
• 2.5-inch, 207,000 pixel LCD
• 14 scene modes
• Venus Engine PLUS

The camera cost me RM 1,450 with 512 SD Card.
There number of competitors in the same class, I have survey few of them, including Casio S600, Casio Z500, Sony T9, Sony T7, Panasonic DMC-FX8, Canon IXUS 55 and the latest Olympus mju 700.

It was hard to decide which model to go, all these camaras shot nice photos too. I settle for FX9 after read some reviews. This is how other people say about FX9
• dpreview.com
• DCRP Review
• cnet asia review

It's not the best among the point-and-shoot camera though, however it is sufficient for a beginner I believe.. The camera come with Mega O.I.S technology, yet I still shoot blur photo due to jitter, don't know what's wrong, the Mega O.I.S not powerful enuff or the shutter speed is too slow, or just because of my poor technique!

Tulan.. Panasonic just announce another camera in the same series the DMC-FX01, and the price is cheaper, USD$349.95 compare to USD$399.95 for DMC-FX9!